Princess Madeleine & Jonas Bergström Break Off Their Engagement: April 2010

[barber]

I find this so pitty... but it is for Madeleine aswell Jonas they have each other 'trouw'
It was such a nice couple !!

 

[Zonk]

Well, the SRF needs to update Madeleine' bio...it still mentions Jonas.

Gosh, to be a fly on his wall...I wonder what he is thinking about today?

 

[Madame Royale]

If Madeline knew about the cheating and decided at that moment to forgive and forget, you can't blame her. I know many a woman who thinks she can forget such an indiscretion because he loves only her and more importantly, they (the woman) think they can change him.

If he cheats once chances are he will do it again. It is much better that she found this out before marriage.

I agree, Zonk. It's a compassionate, more nurturing side to women that makes us believe we can help them better their ways. Unfortunately for many, it's a case of rose coloured glassess...

Seems like a few of us ladies have been on the receiving end of a dishonest partner. When I found out of my ex's 'preoccupations' I kicked him to the curb which was frightfully hard because I was unaware of his betrayal up until that point (he played his hand well), so to confront the end of a relationship almost without warning does cause great sadness and takes some time to move on from. Nonetheless, I've moved on and in the meantime his had an old friend named karma come pay him a visit more than once so I've been told. Quite deserving...couldn't happen to a nicer chap!

We live and learn, it's what we do. I'm not about to character assassinate Jonas as I've never known the man and never shall. I can only comment on the material we have at our disposal concerning his actions, and that alone, gives an insight into the nature of the indavidual.

We all have our faults and certainly, Madeleine would have hers, but we all make decisions and as has been made clear, he chose to act with intent. He wanted to have his cake and eat it to, so he did.

 

[Zonk]

So so true Madame Royale.

I am so sorry about your experience but I can definitely feel your pain..I too was cheated on (without the benefit of marriage) so the hurt is somewhat the same (without the legal issues surrounding dissolving a marriage).

I think most women get to their 30's and 40's before we finally start to realize..you can't change a man...what you see is what you get. And again, its a good thing Madeleine saw this before she took vows and had kids. That makes it worse. Being involved with someone who cheated on because you have to deal with them because of the kids.

Again...I would LOVE to know what Jonas is thinking...does he wish he can go back to that day and do something totally different...like Sliding Doors (the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow).

 

[Madame Royale]

So so true Madame Royale.

I am so sorry about your experience but I can definitely feel your pain..I too was cheated on (without the benefit of marriage) so the hurt is somewhat the same (without the legal issues surrounding dissolving a marriage).

I think most women get to their 30's and 40's before we finally start to realize..you can't change a man...what you see is what you get. And again, its a good thing Madeleine saw this before she took vows and had kids. That makes it worse. Being involved with someone who cheated on because you have to deal with them because of the kids.

Again...I would LOVE to know what Jonas is thinking...does he wish he can go back to that day and do something totally different...like Sliding Doors (the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow).

I'm sorry to hear it, Zonk. The cad wasn't worth it anyway and I'm sure you can now look back and be really very happy that he is no longer a part of your life. You deserved more than he could have ever provided you.

As you said, they are who they are. That's that.

With me it wasn't so much a matter of what you see is what you get. If we had have been married at some stage (thank GOD we didn't), then he would have had a best man, but as it turned out, I think he'd have rathered his best man be his partner...if you get my drift...

Still, I can be amused by it as the pain is all but gone and he's a non entity to me and my life now. I am thankful that it all came to surface when it did because it saved me a lot more heartache if things had have continued. At least I know my shoe collection shall remain safe and that my Audrey Hepburn photograph, signed personally by Audrey herself, is not in some duffle bag doing the 'Rio' circuit.

for Madeleine and Jonas, it just wasn't meant to be. There were (as seems to have become common knowledge) serious problems in the relationship and to end it was the best decision for all concerned. Clearly it wasn't something that could be repaired and that's ok as it now enables them to grow and move forward in their own respective directions.

 

[Winnie]

Maybe they were fine before it was announced then decides that it's better to break it off now than later. Had they announced it while Madeleine was still Sweden she'd be stalked by the press! Which is not helpful in this situation, for either Madeleine or Jonas.

I agree that they MIGHT have been OK and then Madeleine took a real close look at the cheating loser and thought -- NOPE, CAN"T DO IT AS I WILL NEVER TRUST HIM AGAIN. A very mature thing to admit, especially in her life as a Princess and making headlines. I would enjoy seeing the self-centered jerk Jonas brought down big time. If it was my law firm he was working at he would now be fired. If one cannot be loyal to a future wife, hell, he can't be loyal to anyone, especially his employeer. Everyone has choices to make in their lives and they all must pay for them whether they be right or wrong. Jonas' choice was for a quick bit on the side and it cost him his dream of high society and glamour. A turning point in his charmed life.

 

[Sister Morphine]

If it was my law firm he was working at he would now be fired. If one cannot be loyal to a future wife, hell, he can't be loyal to anyone, especially his employeer.

If you did that, you'd deserve every single lawsuit coming your way for having done it. That's against the law -- you can't fire someone because they cheated on their partner. First of all, an employee's personal issues are none of your business as their boss, unless they bring it to work with them and create a hostile work environment for the rest of your staff. Two, many places have clauses in place that prohibit termination for no reason, meaning you can't just walk into someone's office and say "that's it, you're fired" if they haven't done anything contrary to company policy. Three, how can you as their boss assume that if they can't stay faithful to their partner, they would somehow be derelict in their abilities as your employee? Four, causation does not equal correlation. Meaning, just because Jonas was a crappy fiance doesn't mean he is a poor lawyer or would somehow be a poor lawyer.

 

[Winnie]

Gosh, to be a fly on his wall...I wonder what he is thinking about today?

Zonk, you are so funny. I never thought about what Jonas might be thinking! Either he is kicking himself in the head big time for being a man with no conscience regarding cheating on his future wife, or he actually thinks that he is so handsome and sophisticated that women will come out of the woodwork to be seen with him and have their photos in the media. You know that from now on, anyone dating Jonas will be in the headlines, as he will be, for the rest of his life. But personally, I think he will always be a "want-to-be" in society in Sweden.

 

[michelleq]

I would like to be/have been a fly on the wall when Jonas met with HM King Gustav! HM's stare alone can cause a person to shrink; and I wouldn't be surprise if HM wanted to flog Jonas.

Jonas is an ass. Madeleine deserves much better!!! 8 years wasted!

 

[Winnie]

If you did that, you'd deserve every single lawsuit coming your way for having done it. That's against the law -- you can't fire someone because they cheated on their partner. First of all, an employee's personal issues are none of your business as their boss, unless they bring it to work with them and create a hostile work environment for the rest of your staff. Two, many places have clauses in place that prohibit termination for no reason, meaning you can't just walk into someone's office and say "that's it, you're fired" if they haven't done anything contrary to company policy. Three, how can you as their boss assume that if they can't stay faithful to their partner, they would somehow be derelict in their abilities as your employee? Four, causation does not equal correlation. Meaning, just because Jonas was a crappy fiance doesn't mean he is a poor lawyer or would somehow be a poor lawyer.

You might be right, but you would have to prove it in a court of law and the cost to a reputation, would be dragged through the media for months, especially in a high media case like this one. It can and has been done many times. The wives of CEO's with extremely strong views still pull a lot of weight. There are more important companies in the world that have clauses in their hiring packages that state "undignified personal conduct will not be tolerated in or out of the office". It is their company policy. If you don't like the policy, don't work there or at least don't get caught being so low class. Besides, we all know that there is more than one way to get rid of an unwanted employee -- quite legally or with a word in the ear if need be. The legal firm would then be quite in the King's favor if Jonas was no longer around.

 

[Sister Morphine]

You might be right, but you would have to prove it in a court of law and the cost to a reputation, would be dragged through the media for months, especially in a high media cases like this one. It can and has been done many times. The wives of CEO's with extremely strong views still pull a lot of weight. There are more important companies in the world that have clauses in their hiring packages that state "undignified personal conduct will not be tolerated in or out of the office". It is their company policy. If you don't like the policy, don't work there. Most legal firms have these clauses. Probably why lawyers change firms so often.

Prove what in a court of law? If you fire someone because they cheated on their wife, you will be sued and you will lose. That's not a fireable offense. Any company that would put such a ridiculous provision in their contracts isn't worth working for, because I firmly believe that it's not an employers' responsibility to keep tabs on the morals and sexual proclivities of their employees. Now, if the person was doing something illegal like.....beating their wife or abusing their children, that would be different. But just screwing around? That's none of your business. Adultery in most places isn't against the law and isn't punishable by jail time so if you think firing someone who can't keep his pants zipped is an appropriate course of action, maybe you need to find another line of work as well. Then again, that's just my two cents.

Lawyers often change firms for a number of reasons, the majority being a chance at better pay and/or making partner. If you're working for a firm that will give you little to no chance for advancement, you're going to turn in your two weeks notice and look for someplace else. That's just common sense.

 

[Her_Majesty]

I was actually really surprised... I was hoping all the rumors were just a hoax by the press. I always thought Jonas was quite a nice guy. It shocking to see how you can be mistaken in a person. I hope Madeleine will overcome this hard time soon. I agree with everyone that it's better to end the relationship now then having a divorce later. It's sad anyway.

 

[Tilia C.]

Well, the SRF needs to update Madeleine' bio...it still mentions Jonas.

Gosh, to be a fly on his wall...I wonder what he is thinking about today?

I too would like to know what he's thinking. It was said that Madeleine made the decision to call it quits and that Jonas wanted to go on with the relationship. Now, is he mourning the loss of his sweetheart or is mourning the loss of his once in a lifetime chance to marry into the royal family and become a duke?
Personally I always had the impression that his connection with the royal family gave his carrier a definite boost. And I am sure that cheating on the countries much beloved Princess will have a negative impact on his carreer.

 

[Winnie]

It was not "an alleged" incident.There were several "asides" by Jonas and the one making the biggest headlines with the norwegian who** telling all for money....was even before the engagement.Jonas "promissed" to never do it again.....

He fooled the Princess and played with her feelings more then once until apparently Queen Silvia had a long serious talk with her daughter.
It seems her brother and Victoria also talked to her,that the one who didn't know anything untill it was all done and over with was HM The King.

Poor poor dearest Madde,I really feel sorry for her.There is this drop dead gorgious youngest daughter of the King,and this upstart who played tricks on her time and time again.He might as well emigrate now.

This norwegian vulgarity of a creature claming she didn't know who he was?Bull.Cashing in for 12.500 was enough to revive her memory.
They're both trash,Jonas with the pretty face and that creature from norge.

LUCIEN, agree. Wonderful to hear from a male that sees this social climber for what he is. Low class cheat. Glad Princess is done with him. He can now sit down and think what "might have been" if he didn't have the morals of an alley cat! But, I am sure that the press will keep printing his face constantly in the papers which will give his ego quite a boost.

 

[Winnie]

I too would like to know what he's thinking. It was said that Madeleine made the decision to call it quits and that Jonas wanted to go on with the relationship. Now, is he mourning the loss of his sweetheart or is mourning the loss of his once in a lifetime chance to marry into the royal family and become a duke?
Personally I always had the impression that his connection with the royal family gave his carrier a definite boost. And I am sure that cheating on the countries much beloved Princess will have a negative impact on his carreer.

One can only pray that you are right.

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

The way I see it is that there were two issues here:
1) His character. Obviously his behavior on the romantic side shows immaturity and unpreparedness (or unwillingness perhaps) to become (or be) a royal husband
2) Overall persona. It is also a fact that this gentleman is way above average at least in terms of appearance, self-confidence etc, that is, he has the PR characteristics that usually lead to succes and possibly, he may also be a good lawyer. My point is that perhaps he is not the type of man or the type of person born to become someone's spouse but, rather, his own person.

If one puts (1) and (2) above together, the end result came as no surprise to me.

 

[wingsofsky]

I can't imagine what Jonas was thinking when he betrayed her. I don't think he was only caring about marrying into the royal family, as the princess is such a beutiful lady any men could easily fall in love with her. However, he failed in the game of being over protective&sensitive about his privite life as the future husband of a princess. It was a big mistake because there must be a lot af women around him as he is-was "the man with the Princess". After a while they will lose interest in him too. he must have already started regretting.

 

[Boris]

It was not "an alleged" incident.There were several "asides" by Jonas and the one making the biggest headlines with the norwegian who** telling all for money....was even before the engagement.Jonas "promissed" to never do it again.....

He fooled the Princess and played with her feelings more then once until apparently Queen Silvia had a long serious talk with her daughter.
It seems her brother and Victoria also talked to her,that the one who didn't know anything untill it was all done and over with was HM The King.

Lucien, in case you quote the quite well-connected Carlos de Vascanellos' information at length here, which he shared in his posts on a different MB, then I believe you should give him credit.

In case you don't quote him but have read the same details someplace else, it's all the more interesting since I find this information about the Bernadotte family dynamics rather intriguing.

 

[LadyFinn]

From Aftonbladet:
One hour after Madeleine went to the plane the court sent out notice of the break of the engagement.
Breakup came as a surprise to many of their acquaintances. Most of her friends were told on Friday. Only family and a very small circle of friends have known about it for a long time.
- This has been going on for a while, it's not that they broke yesterday, says a close friend of the princess.
Går vidare utan ring | Bröllopet | Aftonbladet

 

[Zonk]

I wish I could understand this...and suggestions for translations?!

 

[Sister Morphine]

I tried plugging the url of the article into both InterTran and Google's translation service, since they both will translate webpages, but both sites told me that translation was denied. Hmmm.

 

[Maura724]

Try copying and pasting the text into Google Translate (set for Swedish to English). I'm not sure of the exact address but if you put "google translate" into any search engine the website should come up.

...oops, I see apparently that doesn't work.

 

[ahtikavalentine]

The article says that princess Madeleine was on the plaine with her body guard but they didn't even say a word to each other, and the plan was while she was flying, the new about her break up with Jonas was announced.

I translate with google chrome directly, cause it gives me the option to translate an entire text in the same page

 

[Alison20]

One of the reasons Royalty always used to be advised to marry another Royal (or at least high noble) person, was that they would not be 'usuing' you to raise their social profile, etc., etc. You would know that they cared for you - excepting, of course, a few 'arranged' marriages for the very senior Royals.

I also think that Madeleine was very young when she first went out with Jonas, and that she perhaps has not therefore had very many other romantic experiences. This may be the reason why she was prepared to forgive him and go into deeper commitment in an attempt to solve the problem. It will not be easy for her for the next while, but I believe that life will get better for her than marrying a cheating husband.

 

[Jaya]

Jonas is the loser here because he cheated on a wonderful gal.He took her for granted.Maddie's prospects are great. She can bounce back with her fabulous smile at the wedding of her sis which I anticipate seeing her at ravishing as usual.
Jonas on the other hand is the one to feel sorry for.Truly

 

[Saragli]

From my understanding, Jonas and Madeline both seem like very high strung characters. They both come off as Alpha persons and that can either become a great team or they will both wear each other down. Seems like they wore each other down. The whole engagment seemed rush to begin with but glad that they official announced the break now and there will be time to move on before the wedding. It is a shame though, I did like them as a couple.

 

[lilnana]

The way I see it is that there were two issues here:
1) His character. Obviously his behavior on the romantic side shows immaturity and unpreparedness (or unwillingness perhaps) to become (or be) a royal husband
2) Overall persona. It is also a fact that this gentleman is way above average at least in terms of appearance, self-confidence etc, that is, he has the PR characteristics that usually lead to succes and possibly, he may also be a good lawyer. My point is that perhaps he is not the type of man or the type of person born to become someone's spouse but, rather, his own person.

If one puts (1) and (2) above together, the end result came as no surprise to me.

While its true that a lot of men have true being the 2nd chair, but if that were completely true, then no one with confidence in their self, appearance, and has the abilities to be successful could never be a spouse to someone else. What would that say to all the spouses that married in? I would hate to think all the women that married in were able to do so because they don't have what it takes to be successful and independent.

 

[casie]

I also think that Madeleine was very young when she first went out with Jonas, and that she perhaps has not therefore had very many other romantic experiences. This may be the reason why she was prepared to forgive him and go into deeper commitment in an attempt to solve the problem.

I don’t think that’s the only reason. I think Jonas went ‘over her head’ so to speak, and went to the king after Madeleine found out about his cheating and asked her father for permission to marry her. The king, not knowing about the affair(s?) gave his blessing and was probably beaming with happiness at the idea of Jonas for a son-in-law (quite a contrast from his grim expression at the announcement of Victoria & Daniel’s engagement).

This is all pure speculation, of course, but I can see Jonas manipulating Madeleine’s fear of disappointing her father. Besides, what young women her age wouldn’t rather be involved in the happy planning of a wedding than to have to admit to their father that her fiancé is a cad and she’s about to make the biggest mistake of her life?

I think of all the family, Victoria was probably the first to know, and she probably went to Queen Sylvia, prompting the ‘long talk’ with her daughter. From there, the whole thing unraveled. Madeleine just had to have the backbone to say she wanted to call it off. Not easy to do when the whole country’s watching, and you know you’re going to have to disappoint your dad.

 

[Stefanie]

Maybe the relationship was already in a way over when they announced the engagement....

 

[ahtikavalentine]

I don't think so, why would they make that kind of effort knowing their relationship had no future?